'Anonymous' plans national fund drive for Susan B. Anthony Project

By Register Citizen Staff

Saturday, March 23, 2013

TORRINGTON >> "Anonymous," the loosely organized online network of "hacktivists" that threatened last week to disrupt the lives of students responsible for bullying two 13-year-old Torrington rape victims is instead planning to marshal its forces to help the Susan B. Anthony Project.

"This month we were horrified by the acts of brutality committed by three older young men who have been accused of raping two 13-year-old girls in the town of Torrington, CT," a member of Anonymous who has nearly 1 million Twitter followers posted in an online message Saturday night. "While there are no doubt thousands of such acts committed daily across the world, Anonymous was drawn to this particular case due to several incidents of online bullying committed by students who went to the same high school as the alleged rapists. The online bullying, for now, has subsided and the alleged rapists have been taken into custody. The question has therefore been raised to what end can Anonymous have a positive influence on this tragic event."

The message goes on to ask Anonymous members to help raise money for Susan B. Anthony Project starting at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 24, by tweeting messages of support for the organization, providing a link to its online donation page, http://www.sbaproject.org/donations.html, and asking their followers to "make a small donation of 5, 10, 25 dollars to the Susan B. Anthony Project."

"Susan B. Anthony Project promotes safety, healing and growth for all survivors of domestic and sexual abuse and advocates for the autonomy of women and the end of interpersonal violence," the Anonymous organizer said in his message.

Susan B. Anthony Project Director Barbara Spiegel has appeared on CNN and elsewhere expressing her support for the victims since the story about bullying broke on Wednesday.

The organization runs regular programs in the Torrington schools on cyberbullying and healthy relationships, provides counseling and support groups, runs an emergency domestic violence shelter for women, provides staff in local courts who help domestic violence and sexual assault victims and staffs a 24-hour confidential help line, 860-482-7133.

It relies on private donations and occasional grants for funding.

Anonymous was a key figure in the infamous Steubenville rape case, which many have compared to Torrington. Members uncovered social media posts and videos by students bragging about details of the rape and mocking the victim, which helped bring international attention and police action.